Shawn Hitchins
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| Shawn Hitchins | |
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| Website | shawnhitchins |
Shawn Hitchins is a gay Toronto-based comedian,[1] author, and actor. He is known for his red hair and for sharing his experience as a sperm donor to a lesbian couple.[2]
Early life[edit]
Hitchins was born in Egypt, Ontario.[3] In 2000, Hitchins briefly attended an acting program at George Brown College.[4]
Career[edit]
In 2005, Hitchins spent a summer performing in with the drag trio The B-Girlz in Provincetown, Massachusetts.[5]
In 2010, Hitchins appeared as a panelist on MTV (Canada) 1 Girl 5 Gays.
In 2011, Hitchins debuted his first one-man show called Survival of the Fiercest at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where he made an offhand joke about the need for redheads to have a “Ginger Pride Walk.”[6] In 2013, he returned to the UK to host the Ginger Pride Walk in Edinburgh, Scotland which gained international media attention on BBC News,[7] The Guardian,[8] CNN,[9] Raidió Teilifís Éireann,[10] The Globe and Mail.[11]
In 2013, Hitchins debut his second one-man show called Ginger Nation at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[12] The show recounts Hitchins' experience donating sperm to a lesbian couple as well as memories from adolescence, brushes with celebrity, and pride in his ginger hair. It received unprecedented media coverage[13] for the festival and the show was later brought to Canada, the United States.[13] In 2015, Ginger Nation received top hit at the 25th Atlantic Fringe Festival.[14] In 2016, Hitchins adapted the live show into a concert film, which screened at the 2017 InsideOut Film and Video Festival,[15] the 2017 Cucalorus Film Festival,[16] and the 2018 SF Indiefest.[17] Huffington Post described the film as "vastly entertaining."[17]
In 2017, Hitchins released his debut memoir A Brief History of Oversharing,[18] published by ECW Press.
Personal life[edit]
In 2012, Hitchins welcomed a daughter after becoming a sperm donor for two close lesbian friends.[2]
Books[edit]
- Hitchins, Shawn (2017). A Brief History of Oversharing: One Ginger's Anthology of Humiliation. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1770413269. (Humor)
- Hitchins, Shawn (2021). The Light Streamed Beneath It: A Memoir of Grief and Celebration. ECW Press. (Memoir)
Filmography[edit]
Documentary[edit]
- 2016: Shawn Hitchins: Ginger Nation - also writer, producer, collaborating director[19]
Films[edit]
- 2010: The Con Artist - Metrosexual
Television[edit]
TV Mini-Series[edit]
- 2008: The Trojan Horse - Bellboy
TV Series[edit]
- 2009-2010: 1 Girl 5 Gays - Himself
- 2004: Wild Card - The FedEd Guy
References[edit]
- ^ "Shawn Hitchins: Ginger Nation". Time Out New York. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
- ^ a b Hitchins, Shawn (2013-08-17). "Experience: I was a sperm donor for my friends". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "It's always a great day in Egypt, Ont". TVO. 2017-07-27. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "Former George Brown theatre students allege they were humiliated, abused by faculty | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "A Brief History of Oversharing: One Ginger's Anthology of Humiliation | Quill and Quire". Quill and Quire. 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "How Shawn Hitchins' Ginger Pride jokes ignited red-hot passion". CBC Radio. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "Comedian leads Ginger Pride Walk". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "How Shawn Hitchins' Ginger Pride jokes ignited red-hot passion". CBC Radio. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
- ^ Bellini, Jarrett. "Apparently This Matters: Gingers take to the streets". CNN. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "March held in Edinburgh to demonstrate against gingerism". RTE.ie. 2013-08-10. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "Talking Points: Disney sinkhole, Ginger Pride Walk, picking up the cheque". Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "Ginger quest". Xtra. 2015-01-14. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ a b BWW News Desk. "Shawn Hitchins Brings GINGER NATION to The Duplex Tonight". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
- ^ "Shawn Hitchins scores top hit at Fringe Festival with Ginger Nation". The Chronicle Herald. 2015-09-14. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
- ^ "Spite and sperm donation: One comedian's misadventures in bringing his story to the screen | CBC Arts". CBC. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ "BEYOND THE REEL: Anghus reviews a broad bunch of films showing at Cucalorus 23 | | "Your Alternative Weekly Voice"". www.encorepub.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ a b Heymont, George (2018-01-15). "Powering Through An Identity Crisis". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
- ^ Shawn, Hitchins (2017). Brief history of oversharing : one ginger's anthology of humiliation. Toronto. ISBN 9781770413269. OCLC 985966403.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Hitchins, Shawn; Soja, Jonathan, Shawn Hitchins: Ginger Nation, Shawn Hitchins, retrieved 2018-01-18
External links[edit]
- 21st-century Canadian male actors
- Canadian stand-up comedians
- Canadian male film actors
- Canadian male television actors
- Canadian gay actors
- Gay comedians
- Canadian gay writers
- Living people
- Gay memoirists
- 21st-century Canadian male writers
- Canadian male non-fiction writers
- 21st-century Canadian comedians
- 21st-century Canadian memoirists
- Canadian drag queens
- Comedians from Ontario
- Canadian male comedians
- Canadian LGBT comedians
- 21st-century Canadian LGBT people
- People from Georgina, Ontario
- Drag performers from Toronto